Winter Wonderland

These past 10 days have been packed with visiting family and friends in Kelowna, Summerland, Nelson, Victoria, and Vancouver :)
Here is a sampling of some good times!

Christmas Suprise... Canada!

I'm in Canada :) Even though the Korean consulate in Vancouver couldn't guarantee to process my visa in such a short space of time, I found a cheap flight and booked it three weeks ago... but only told my sister and some friends in Korea! It has been such a fun challenge to keep the secret! I had to avoid any Facebook spoilers and skillfully post misleading comments without ever lying.
I was, in fact in Japan on Dec.20th, but I was not in Fukuoka for the visa run, I was in Tokyo transferring to a flight to North America. Later that day (or earlier, actually), I arrived in Vancouver, dropped off my visa application successfully and managed to buy a Greyhound bus ticket that afternoon (with cash so that my mom would not see strange charges on my credit card or bank card). Seven hours later, in Kelowna, my uncle (who I had called the week before) picked me up and I stayed at his place.

I first surprised my Gram who, in the dim light, thought my uncle had showed up with friend until she realized it was me. Then when my uncle and I returned to my Gram's house after a day of skiing, my aunt was there. She simply said "hello" without looking up from the newspaper then when she did look up could barely believe her eyes. My six-year-old cousin ran over to give me a big hug and I got to meet my nine-day-old cousin :) After a quick tea I drove to Summerland where my aunt and grandma were waiting for me to appear on Skype from Korea. When my aunt answered the door, I said "Sorry I'm late!" - she nearly collapsed! The picture she took of my grandma and me is shaky from the shock.

The next day, I drove the five hours with my sister and Gram to Nelson to suprise my parents. I got out of the car before arriving at our house and as my sister and Gram distracted my mom by taking the dog for a walk, I snuck into the house and sat under the Christmas tree with a bow on my head. My sister told my mom there was something she should see in the living room and at first she thought I was my sister and then it registered! Later, I surprised my dad when he came home from work.

Lastly, I stopped by my best friend's house not even an hour after she had arrived home from university. Her mom answered the door and said "It's Kim" and Lisa said to her dad, "It's not Kim - Kim's in Korea." Of course she couldn't believe her eyes when I came up the stairs. Then today we went to our friend's house and she said, "Oh, hi Kim!" as if it was unexpected, but nothing unusual and then a few seconds later said "wait..." and it hit her that I wasn't supposed to be there.
No one had any idea I was coming :) It is so much fun to surprise people and it is great to be home for Christmas!

BUFS 여러분 감사합니다

I would like to thank all the staff, the teachers, and my fellow students that have made these past four months at Busan University of Foreign Studies a truely amazing experience.


Firstly, thank you to my room mates for your patience and support.

한국어 수업 선생님들 하고 반 친구들 에게 감사합니다.








Gracias, Ivan, por compartir tantos momentos conmigo. Y a Olivia por tu sonrisa y apoyo.








Obrigada, Profesor Juliano e as amigas de Português. Tudo de bom para vocês!

Merci, Jeong Ah et Yanghee. Bonne chance avec tout!









日本語学科のみなさん、ありがとうございました。いい勉強になりました！








I have learned so much and made many great friends. I look forward to the next three months in Korea, teaching English in Naju, volunteering on Jeju, and travelling with my sister. I hope to see you all again!

A Bath

Sometimes you just want to soak! Natural hot springs are not common in Korea, but you can find little bath houses everywhere which may have small sauna rooms and like onsens in Japan, are divided between male and female due to the lack of swimwear. The traditional Korean saunas (Jimjilbangs) provide everyone with loose-fitting shirts and shorts to wear into the igloo-shaped hot rooms and resting areas that are often open 24-hours. They usually have female and male bath houses as well. So to clarify some Korean bath vocabularly:
Oncheon = Hot springs/ Onsen
Jimjilbang = Sauna/ Sauna
Sauna = Bath house/ Ofuro
Lacking bath tubs of our own, Kayla and I were both craving a good soak, so we ventured to a place called Ocheonjang (literally hot spring place) that has public foot baths in the street! I was trying to find one of the biggest hot springs in Korea, but apparently I didn't follow directions well and we ended up at the smallest, most crowded bath house I've ever been to. It's quite the experience being in a steamy area filled with naked women and children soaking in hot tubs and scrubbing each other down at the shower stalls. And this place also had a powerful, caramel-herby smell to it that I think came from the steam rooms. But it was still nice to soak!

통도사 - Tongdosa Temple

토요일에 한국어 선생님과 친구들과 통도사에 갔어요. 아름답은 통도사에서 걷고 한국식당에서 맛있은 비빔밥을 먹었어요. 많이 재미 있었어요!

On Saturday, I went to Tongdosa Temple with my Korean teacher and some friends. After walking around the beautiful temple, we had delicious bibimbap at a Korean restaurant. It was lots of fun!

Swing Spirit!

The night started with a graduation party...

La nuit a commencé avec un bal des finissants...

La noche comenzó con una fiesta de graduación...

A noite começou com uma festa de formatura...
昨日の夜は卒業パーティーで始まって。。。

And when a minor fire caused an evacuation...

Et quand une incindie a causé une évacuation...

Y cuando un incendio causó una evacuación...

E quando um incêndio causou uma evacuação...

そして、火事が避難を引き起こしたときに...

We continued the party in the streets!

Nous avons continué la fête dans la rue!

Continuamos la fiesta en la calle!

A gente continuou a festa na rua!
道でパーティーを続けました！

Complications and small details...

I've been saying that I would love a career in immigrant services so I guess I'm gaining first hand experience in how complicated, time-consuming, frustrating, and stressful these processes can be. And I'm only trying to get a 3-week work permit!
A month or so ago, I saw an ad for English teachers an very well-paid winter break English camp and realized that it was at BUFS! But they only wanted to hire school teachers from other countries who are on their summer holidays.
It inspired me to look into it further and I found several camp jobs listed around Korea, including a lucrative 2-week one on Jeju Island that was interested in hiring me! At the university they said I just needed a permission letter to work there! But when the camp contacted immigration, it turned out I would also need a criminal record check and a copy of my degree apostilled by the Korean Consulate in Vancouver.
I was going to give up when told it would take 12 weeks to get a CRC, but the Jeju recruiter said I didn't need the finger print one and that it should only take a week. Well, that turned out to be true, but meanwhile it took me a week just to request it after complications with emailing and faxing documents back and forth with the RCMP in Nelson.
Finally last week, my mom's friend was able to gather all the required documents for me since my parents were out of the country and sent my CRC and degree to the consulate. It seemed they would arrive here in Korea the week before the camp started (on Dec. 25), which was worry-some because when I called immigration I was told it would take 2 weeks to process a work permit. But the Jeju recruiter said maybe (always maybe) I could get permission during or after the camp.

Meanwhile, I had been looking into several camps and this Friday, I received a contract from a 3-week, well-paid camp in Naju, Jeollanamdo that starts on Jan. 2, allowing me more time to get the documents :)

So I made another call to immigration to ask again what documents I needed for the application and, apparently, we all missed a minor detail (yes, that's sarcastic) - the fact that although my student visa is valid until the end of March, the scholarship period was cut short and I finish studying Dec. 22 then I have to leave the country within 30 days after the last day of classes or I will have over-stayed my visa... sinking feeling...
Reassessment: I wondered if I could go home to Canada for a couple days, but when I called the Korean Consulate, the visa officer said that she couldn't guarantee that she could process my visa (I need a short-term emplyment visa to work at the camp) in the amount of time I would have, especially because it's busy during the holiday season and they are closed for 2 days during that time.
So there's the infamous "visa run" to Fukuoka, Japan once I've finished classes. Normally I would be excited for a couple-days trip to Japan if it wasn't so expensive and I didn't already have plans to go there for two weeks in March. Meanwhile my passport is running out of pages and is still valid for two more years...
Well, that's the story. Hopefully it will all work out and I will be working at the camp in Naju starting in the new year - experiencing, for a few weeks, what it is like to be an English teacher in Korea!

Nelsonites Re-unite

This past weekend, Harry invited me (and friends) to tour Yeongdo and go for dinner with his wife, Angelina and daughter, Mikaela. So I invited two high school friends from Nelson who are teaching English here. Kayla has been living in a city just outside of Busan for the past month and Luke has been in a city three hours from here since the spring. It was great to see them again and to spend time with Harry and his family. We are so lucky to have such enthousiastic and generous hosts!

It's getting chilly...

... so Breeze treated me to Korean-style porridge and tea. I'm going to help him with his English so he can MC at the Busan Swing Festival next August.

Il commence à faire froid alors Breeze m'a invité à manger du gruau coréen et à boire du thé. Je vais l'aider avec son anglais pour être le MC du festival de swing à Busan l'été prochaine.

Llegó el frío así que Breeze me invitó a comer gachas coreano y a tomar té. Voy a ayudarle con su inglés porque va ser el MC del festival swing en Busan el próximo verano.

O frio chegou então Breeze me convidou para comer mingau coreano e tomar chá. Vou lhe ajudar com o inglês porque ele vai ser o MC do festival swing em Busan no verão que vem.

だんだん寒くなっているから私はBreezeさんと粥やお茶をいただきました。Breezeさんは夏にブサンのSwing FestivalのMCになるから私は英語の表現を教えてあげるつもりです。

Wonderful Weekend

JeongEui invited me to spend a weekend at her parents' house in Hadong. We had a great time exploring and practicing Korean and English :) I'll let the photos speak for themselves except to add that the last one would be better as a video to see the octopus tentacles wriggling!